They commanded me to watch!
'Copycat', 'Holy Cow', 'My Girl', 'Eddington', 'The Headless Woman', 'Silence of the Lambs' and a scary eleven-year-old girl.
It’s been exciting texting Substackers who know that the World creates movies, and that imagination isn’t reserved for Hollywood alone.
That reminds me of Marilyn Manson’s album, ‘Holy Wood: In the Shadow of the Valley of Death’, wherein he sings “We take a pill, get a face, buy our ticket, and we hope that heaven's true.”
I say: “Hollywood, we’ll fear no evil, walk through the valleys of foreigners, and watch good movies in any language!”
Ha ha, of course, there are great mainstream American movies. So many, making it fun to dig backwards in search of those that were once big, but buried in our amnesia.
This post thanks those who feasted my brain eyes with their chats or reviews. It’s a contrasting combination of the forgotten and unknown, the old and new, the English and the non-English, the fucking wonderful!
Thrill me with your comments (yes, I’m cracking it open today). Tell me your favourite movie this year, or from the Nineties, or an underrated gem from whenever. If you want to share your most embarrassing story, that’s ok too.
‘The Headless Woman’ (Dir Lucrecia Martel, Argentina, 2008)
I went through a period where I evaded the CIA by swimming through the jungles, skating the glaciers, and clambering over the mountains of South America. Yeah, I eyeballed a lot of movies. More precisely, I saw 112 in occasional fevers over years. I skipped the acclaimed filmography of Director Lucrecia Martel because I wanted all of her in one glorious weekend. Unfortunately, they were never streaming like a neoliberal hunting Argentina’s gold reserves. After this week’s encouragement, I forsook my perfect lust and watched the one reaching me. ‘The Headless Woman’ was described by an online commentator with “What the fuck is going on?” and “Woman suck at driving.” As much as I admire poets who rhyme, I disagree. As much as I despise the New York Times, the latter was spot-on with “A full appreciation of Martel’s elegant, rain-soaked film requires the concentration and eye for detail of a forensic detective… Brilliant, maddeningly enigmatic puzzle of a movie.”
Recommended by Indie Darlings
‘Copycat’ (Dir Jon Amiel. USA, 1995)
I’d so forgotten about ‘Copycat’ that I thought I hadn’t seen it. Thankfully, the joyful twists and turns of serial killing and catching the serial killer remained lost to my neocortex. It was almost like seeing it for the first time. Sigourney Weaver is immortal, so the bonus was seeing cutesy Holly Hunter whom I loved in ‘Broadcast News’ (1987). It’s not a spoiler that I would’ve concluded with Weaver’s character sending her “squirrel cover” to the prison, filled with shit (that’s “excrement” to you classy readers salivating for murderous movies). My screenwriting dream changes don’t stop ‘Copycat’ from being Director Amiel’s best in his nearly 50 years in the business.
Recommended by Final Girl Friday
‘Eddington’ (Dir Ari Aster, USA, 2025)
Devil bless American madness for giving us ‘Eddington’. Ari Aster has become a giant of intelligent film, though the masses have failed to realise that beyond his exceptional, day-scaring ‘Midsommar’. I loved Joaquinn Phoenix in the well-received perfection of ‘Her’, ‘C’mon, C’mon’ and ‘You Were Never Really Here’. However, his best acting was in the ones that almost everybody turned their backs on - ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ and Aster’s ‘Beau is Afraid’. Aster and Phoenix chose chemistry over the proletariat, teaming up for ‘Eddington’. It’s appropriate that it’s been divisively received, as it involves the nuttiness of liberals and conservatives during COVID. Aster has to be applauded for observing the truth and packing so much into this jam can of a film. I especially like the inclusion of corrupt politicians insanely putting thirsty data centres in desert towns. “How did we get here?” is the perfect question. God bless Ari Aster.
Watch the trailer (and check out what Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are up to).
Recommended by Anti-Brain Rot
‘Holy Cow’ (Dir Louise Courvoisier, Switzerland, 2024)
I love it when a new director wins awards, even more so when it’s a woman (because I’m biased). I’m curious when they come from Switzerland which defies the odds by not being a hub of movies despite being sandwiched by Germany, Austria, Italy and France, and having a bunch of Belgians within. Courvoisier’s debut is unlike most coming-of-age movies in that it’s grittily natural. It will have helped that she was only 30 when she made it. Similar authentic cinematography accompanies. It’s about an 18-year-old boy having to become the father to a farm and his 7-year-old sister. It’s damn hard being an adolescent adult, which sets us up for some curdling. Besides this being one of the year’s better dramas, you’ll learn that “Comté is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France bordering Switzerland” (or concisely steal from Wiki like I did).
Recommended by A Celebration of Cinema.
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (Dir Jonathan Demme, USA, 1991)
Jodie Foster’s hunt will be the strongest-known on this list, but when did you last taste her and dear Hannibal? This is a safe place, you can admit your fetish. I soak my soya favourites in decades-old cedar barrels so they different to the mutton I’ve become. My admiration for the acting and thrill is relived, but I’m more observant and contemplative. This is Foster’s finest acting after ‘Nell’, and archaeological proof that the perfect thriller existed before David Fincher. It’s worth your time to find Demme’s genre-different but should-be-more-well-known, ‘Rachel Getting Married’. A meaty meal should be followed with an Anne Hathaway dessert.
Recommended by Oscar Werethy?
‘The Exorcist III’ (Dir William Peter Blatty, USA, 1990)
I’m going to cheat here, but you can mistake it as praise. My copy and paste has Dave saying: “When my friend asked me to please watch The Exorcist III, I wasn’t overly enthused. The first movie left me feeling guilty for not loving it, despite knowing I was supposed to. The second film is hilariously bad schlock (with an overly qualified Ennio Morricone providing the soundtrack). Regarding part three, my friend simply said, ‘Trust me, it’s one of the best movies ever made.’ He was completely right.” If you believe a double billing should include escalation, watch this straight after ‘Copycat’. The Nineties were terrific. This is one way we can get back there.
Recommended by David’s Stack.
‘My Girl’ (Dir Howard Zieff, USA, 1991)
This may be a magic blog with posts mostly done in ones, threes, sixes and (intended) thirteens, but ‘My Girl’ is your heavenly number seven. I forget who suggested it, though it may have been in the comment section of one of the above stacks. Don’t worry that the screenplay was written by Laurice Elehwany who did ‘The Brady Bunch Movie’ and ‘The Amazing Panda Adventure’. This is about death, and nothing is scarier than an 11-year-old girl who’ll make you cry. Add Macaulay Culkin in anything but ‘Home Alone’, and those tap tears will become a dam flood. Afterwards, tissue yourself with him being rebellious before Miley Cyrus was.
I know, I know, I was being snarky today. I swear, I’m mostly a nice guy. The movies made me do it. Better I end with a selfie before I go to Generation X again. I kept that hat for my bald spot.
"The Headless Woman," what a pick for a first step into the magic that Lucrecia puts on offer. I'm still very much in love with her "La Ciénaga," if you're able to view it please do let me know what you think. This is a great list, and was a fun read. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent choices. I really liked Lucrecia Martel's "The Headless Woman". I recommend her other films, such as "The Holy Girl" and "Zama". I thought "Copycat" was a good thriller. I saw it when it first came out (do I feel old!).